Boring type continuous mining machine having rotary boring arms moving into nested relation during certain cycles of rotation of the boring arms



Sept. 26, 1967 J. GONSKI 3,

BORING TYPE CONTINUOUS MINING MACHINE HAVING ROTARY BORING' ARMS MOVINGINTO NESTED RELATION DURING CERTAIN CYCLES OF ROTATION OF THE'BORINGARMS Filed July 22, 1965 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 Pg I INVENTOR.

1 Tose a Gow s| Sept. 26, 196 7 GONSKl 3,343,882 BORING TYPE CONTINUOUSMINING MACHINE HAVING ROTARY BORING ARMS MOVING INTO NESTED RELATIONDURING CERTAIN CYCLES 0F ROTATION OF THE BORING ARMs I Filed July 22,1965 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 ln 7 N Q :t \J

I V I g -aif I I a /I g1 g3 INVENTOR.

} JOSEPH G NsKI III flmw'fw Sept. 26, 1967 J. GONSKI 3,343,882

BORING TYPE CONTINUOUS MINING MACHINE HAVING ROTARY BORING ARMS MOVINGINTO NESTED RELATION DURING CERTAIN CYCLES OF ROTATION OF THE BORINGARMS Filed July 22, 1965 s Sheets-Sheet s I r :8 BY TosEPH GON KI UnitedStates Patent ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Boring type of continuousmining machine having at least three rotary boring heads. The boringheads are arranged at forwardly extending acute angles with respect tothe front face of the support for the boring heads. This positions thecutter supports and cutter bits to move into nested relation withrespect to a next adjacent boring head, and enables the boring heads tobe spaced close enough to each other, to make it practical to use morethan two boring heads in mining low coal.

This invention relates to improvements in a boring type continuousmining machine having a plurality of laterally spaced boring arms movingin nested relation during certain cycles of rotation of the boring armsand advanced into the working face of a mine by the traction devicessupporting and propelling the machine.

A principal object of the invention is to provide a novel and morecompact arrangement of boring heads for a continuous mining machine ofthe rotary boring type, in which the cutter support arms of the boringheads are arranged at forwardly extending acute angles with respect tothe front face of the support therefor, enabling the boring heads tomove into nested relation with respect to each other and be spaced closeenough together to permit the use of more than two boring heads for lowcoal operation, without increasing the width of the mined area to thepoint where it may be impractical to hold the roof up, during a miningoperation.

A further object of the present invention is to improve upon thecontinuous mining machines of the rotary boring type having more thantwo rotary boring heads, by reducing the overhang of the boring headsbeyond the supports therefor and thereby maintaining the room widthmined by more than two boring heads to a width where the roof can besupported, by so arranging the boring heads as to move into nestedrelation with respect to each other during portions of the cycles ofrotation thereof and mine annular kerfs in intersecting relation withrespect to each other.

Another object of the invention is to provide an improved form of rotaryboring head type of continuous mining machine, having laterally aligned'bOring heads rotating in the same vertical planes, in which the spacingof the boring heads can be maintained to minimum dimensions, to reducethe cusps left between the boring heads and permit the mining of a seamof coal by three or more laterally aligned boring heads, and maintainthe working place to a width that safe mining practice will allow.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a novel andimproved form of continuous mining machine in which maneuverability ofthe machine and cutting efficiency thereof is increased by reducing theoverhang and spacing between the boring heads heretofore present inboring types of continuous mining machines having more than two boringheads, by so constructing and arranging the boring heads as to move intogenerally nested relation ice with respect to each other, to cutintersecting kerfs in the same general vertical planes throughout thewidth of the machine.

These and other objects of the invention will appear from time to timeas the following specification proceeds and with reference to theaccompanying drawings wherein:

FIGURE 1 is a top plan view of a continuous mining machine constructedin accordance with the principles of the present invention;

FIGURE 2 is a diagrammatic view showing the cutting patterns of theboring arms of the machine shown in FIG URE 1;

FIGURE 3 is a front end view of the machine shown in FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 4 is a fragmentary plan view of the front end of a multipleboring machine, with certain parts broken away and certain other partsshown in horizontal sectional view in order to illustrate a modifiedform in which the invention may be embodied; and

FIGURE 5 is a diagrammatic front end view of the machine shown in FIGURE4.

In FIGURES 1, 2 and 3 of the drawings, I have shown a continuous miningmachine of the multiple rotary boring head type including a main frame11 supported on laterally spaced continuous traction tread devices 12,12, which serve to tram the machine from place to place and to feed aseries of outer rotary boring heads 13, 13 and an intermediate boringhead 15 into the working face of a mine.

The rotary boring heads 13, 13 and 15 are rotatably supported on andextend in advance of a cutter frame 16, extending along the front of andin advance of the main frame 11, and supported on the main frame of themachine by conventional elevating jacks 17, 17.

The machine also has an endless conveyor 19 extending along the mainframe 11 from a position adjacent the ground in advance of the forwardend of said main frame in an upwardly inclined direction and along thetop of the main frame in a generally horizontal plane. The conveyor 19extends beneath and along a throat 20 formed in the underside of thecutter frame structure 16 between the boring heads 13, 13, for pickingup the mined material progressed in front of the conveyor by said boringhead-s. The conveyor 19 may be of any conventional form and preferablyis of the laterally flexible single strand endless chain and flighttype, to enable the discharge end of the conveyor to be moved from sideto side and load into suitable material transporting means in aconventional manner.

An upper trimmer bar 22 is mounted on the cutter frame structure 16 inadvance of the forward end thereof and behind the cutter heads 13, 13and 15 on hydraulic jacks 23, mounted on the front face of the cutterframe structure 16 and supporting and vertically adjusting said trimmerbar and holding said trimmer bar in a selected position of adjustment. Alower trimmer bar 25 extends across the front of the conveyor 19 and ismounted on the cutter frame 16 in a conventional manner, for verticaladjustment with respect thereto to raise the trimmer bar 25 to clear theground and accommodate the machine to be trammed from working place toworking place, and maintain said trimmer bar in a required position ofadjustment with respect to the ground. A trimmer chain 26 is trainedalong the lower trimmer bar 25 around corner sprockets 27 at oppositeends of said trimmer bar. One end of the trimmer chain 26 is trainedaround a suitable tension idler 28 and around a corner sprocket 29 atone end of the trimmer bar 22. The chain is trained from the cornersprocket 29 along the trimmer bar 22 and around a similar cornersprocket 29 at the opposite end of said trimmer bar, and angularlydownwardly and inwardly therefrom around a drive sprocket 31. Fromthence the chain 26 extends angularly downwardly and outwardly of saiddrive sprocket to and around a corner sprocket 27, to the trimmer bar25. The drive sprocket 31 may be driven from the drive gearing fordriving the boring heads 13, 13 and 15 and contained in the cutter frame16. The drive to said drive sprocket is no part of the present inventionand may be of any convention-a1 form, so need not herein be shown ordescribed further.

The outer boring heads 13, 13 each include a hollow hub 32 rotatablyjournalled in a collar or sleeve 33 formed integrally with a front face35 of the cutter frame 16 and extending forwardly therefrom. Each hub 32is rotatably driven by an individual motor 36, driving reduction gearingcontained within the cutter frame 16, through a flexible driveconnection 37. A motor 36 is provided on each side of the conveyor 19and extends therealong. The intermediate boring head 15 is driven fromgear reduction mechanism (not shown) contained within the cutter frame16 and connecting the boring heads 13, 13, together to be driven intimed relation with respect to each other. The gearing contained withinthe cutter frame 16 and the drive connection from said gearing to theboring heads 13, 13 and 15 are conventional and are no part of thepresent invention so need not herein be shown or described further.

Each outer boring head 13 is shown in FIGURES 1 and 3 as having twodiametrically extending boring arms 39, 39 extending angularly forwardlyof the axis of rotation of the boring head and at acute angles withrespect to the front face 35 of the cutter frame 16 and the extendedaxes of rotation of said boring heads.

As shown in FIGURE 1 a forwardly facing plate 40 connects the forwardend portions of the arms 39, 39 together, and is connected with saidarms as by a gusset 41. Cutter support arms 42, 42 are mounted atopposite ends of said plate and extend forwardly therefrom in parallelrelation with respect to the axis of rotation of the boring head. Thecutter support arms 42 have the usual cutter bits 43 projecting from theends thereof and inclined with respect to the longitudinal center linesof said cutter support arms to cut clearance for said cutter supportarms and to cut an annular kerf within which said arms may advanceendwise during a boring operation. Extending in front of the plate 40coaxial with the axis of rotation of the boring head 13 is a pilotcutter support 44 having cutter bits 45 projecting forwardly therefrom,for cutting an annular pilot kerf in advance of the center of theborning head.

The arms 39 each have a telescopic arm 46 adjustably mounted therein forvarying the cutting diameter of the boring head. The telescopic arms 46,46 are held in fixed relation with respect to the boring arms 39, 39 andare extensibly and retractibly moved with respect to said boring arms bya conventional form of adjusting mechanism, which is no part of thepresent invention, so need not herein be shown or described.

Extending forwardly of each telescopic arm 46, parallel to the cuttersupports 42, 42 is a cutter support 47 having cutter bits 48 carriedthereby and projecting forwardly therefrom, to cut clearance for saidcutter supports and to out large diameter annular kerfs from the minefloor to the mine roof, as shown in FIGURE 2.

Each telescopic arm 46 also has an impeller plate 49 mounted thereon andextending generally radially therealong in rearwardly spaced relationwith respect to the cutter support 47. The impeller plates 49 are on theleading sides of the telescopic arms 46 and are inclined with respect tothe plane of the cutter supports 47 to impel the mined material inwardlyalong th ground toward the center of the machine into the path of theconveyor 19.

The boring head 15 is shown in FIGURE 1 as having a hub 50 journalled ina sleeve 51 extending forwardly of the front face 35 of the cutter frame16. A boring arm 52 extends angularly forwardly of the hub 50 and isinclined at an acute angle with respect to the front face 35 of thecutter frame 16 at the same angle of inclination as the angles ofinclination of the boring arms 39, 39 With respect to said front face.The boring arm 52 has an inner axially extending cutter support 53carrying the usual cutter bits 54 and a radial outwardly spaced axiallyextending cutter support 55 having the usual cutter bits 56, 56 mountedon the ends thereof and extending forwardly therefrom.

The boring arms 52 being spaced laterally from the boring arms 39 andbeing parallel to certain of said boring arms may be nested by theboring arms 39 and the telescopic arms 46 of one boring head when saidarms are diametrically aligned and may also move into nested relationbetween the boring arms of the next adjacent boring head. The threeboring heads 13, 13 and 15 are also all driven in timed relation withrespect to each other, the boring head 15 rotating at twice the speed ofthe boring heads 13, 13 so that a boring arm 52 is diametrically alignedwith a boring arm 39 during one phase of each cycle .of rotation of theinner boring head 15. The boring head 15 is also 90 out of phase withrespect to the opposite outer boring head 13. The three boring heads 13,13 and 15 thus rotate together to mine in the same vertical planes insuch timed relation that the inner boring head may be nested by a boringarm of an outer boring head and may be nested in the space between theboring arms of the opposite boring head and produce the intersectingcutting patterns shown in FIG- URE 2.

In FIGURES 4 and 5, the principles of the invention are shown as appliedto a relatively wide continuous mining machine, particularly operablefor mining wide working places in low seams and having four mining heads60, extending forwardly of a front face 61 of a cutter frame 63. Thecut-ter frame 63 may be like the cutter frame 16 and may be adjustablymounted on the front end of the main frame of a continuous miningmachine in a manner similar to which the cutter frame 16 is mounted onthe front end of the main frame 11. I have also shown a lower trimmerbar 64 having a trimmer chain 65 guided for movement therealong. Thetrimmer chain 65 is driven in a conventional manner and is also guidedfor movement along an upper trimmer bar (not shown) extending along themine roof, as is conventional with continuous mining machines of theboring type.

Each boring head 60 is shown as including a central hub 66 extendingalong a hollow shaft 67, and having an inner radial flange 69 abutting aflange extending radially of the hollow shaft 67 in inwardly spacedrelation with respect to the outer end thereof. The flanges 69 and 70may be bolted or otherwise secured to each other to retain the boringhead 60 to the hollow shaft 67. The hub and hollow shaft 67 may also bekeyed or otherwise secured to each other. The hub 66 is shown as havinga hollow boring arm 71 extending angularly outwardly and forwardlytherefrom at an acute angle with respect to the front face 61 of thecutter frame 63. The hollow boring arm 71 has a cutter support 72extending forwardly therefrom parallel to the axis of rotation of theboring arm, and having the usual cutter bits 73 projecting forwardlytherefrom. The boring arm 71 also has a telescopic arm 75 mounted fortelescopic movement with respect thereto and having a cutter support 76projecting forwardly therefrom in parallel relation with respect to thecutter support 72 and carrying the usual cutter bits 77. As shown inFIGURE 4 the telescopic arm 75 is extensibly and retractably moved withrespect to the arm 71 as by a link 79 pivotally connected with anextensible operator 80 at its inner end, and extensibly and retractablymoved with respect to the hub 66 and hollow shaft 67 through suitableextensible mechanism, which may be a fluid pressure operated cylinderand piston (not shown).

The two boring heads 60, 60 on each side of the longitudinal center ofthe machine are rotatably driven in opposite directions to progress themined material toward the center of the machine to be picked up by theconveyor (not shown) of the machine and loaded in a usual manner. l

With the arrangement shown in FIGURES 4 and 5, it is possible to placethe boring heads 60, 60 close enough together so that the boring headswill all be in nested relation with respect to each other twice duringeach cycle of rotation thereof when in their extended cutting positions.The boring heads may thus be placed close enough together to efficientlymine all of the material from the seam without making it necessary toplace the central boring heads in leading or trailing relation withrespect to the outer boring heads.

The construction shown, like that of FIGURES l and 3, thereby reducesthe overhang of the boring heads, heretofore necessary in continuousboring machines having more than two boring heads, provides ample ribclearance to enable the machine to readily drive entries at angles withrespect to the main entry or room, and is particularly adaptable formining thin seams of coal where it is desirable to provide more than twoboring heads on the machine to mine a wide enough working place tocompensate for coal that would otherwise be lost, due to reduction inthickness of the seam and to hold the machine to a width where the roofmined by the machine can be safely supported.

While I have herein shown and described one form in which the inventionmay be embodied, it may readily be understood that various variationsand modifications in the invention may be attained without departingfrom the spirit and scope of the novel concepts thereof.

I claim as my invention:

1. In a continuous mining machine,

a main frame,

a cutter frame structure mounted on said main frame and extending inadvance thereof, the improvement comprising:

a plurality of laterally spaced rotary boring heads mounted on saidcutter frame structure and extending in advance thereof to mine inintersecting relation with respect to each other in the same verticalplanes and having central hubs and angularly extending boring armsextending angularly forwardly and laterally of said hubs at acute angleswith respect to the extended axes of rotation thereof and having cutterbit carrying supports extending axially forwardly therefrom,

said boring arms positioning said cutter supports to extend partiallyover a portion of a next adjacent boring arm, in one position ofrotation of said boring arms.

2. In a continuous mining machine,

a main frame,

a cutter frame structure mounted on said main frame and extending inadvance thereof and having a front face extending across the forward endof said main frame, the improvement comprising:

a series of laterally spaced horizontally aligned rotary boring headsmounted on said cutter frame structure and extending in advance of thefront face thereof to mine in the same general vertical planes,

each boring head including a central hub and at least one angular boringarm extending laterally outwardly and forwardly therefrom at an acuteangle with respect to the front face of said cutter frame structure,

and having at least one cutter support extending forwardly therefrom inparallel relation with respect to the axis of rotation of said boringhead and having cutter bits on the end thereof,

said boring arms positioning said cutter supports and cutter bits toextend partially over a portion of a next adjacent boring head and tooverlap the cutting path of the next adjacent boring head.

3. In a continuous mining machine,

a main frame,

a cutter frame structure mounted on said main frame and extending inadvance thereof,

a conveyor extending along said main frame from a position adjacent theground in advance of the forward end of said main frame and beneath saidcutter frame structure,

a plurality of laterally spaced rotary boring heads mounted on saidcutter frame structure for rotation about parallel axes extendinglongitudinally of said main frame and on opposite sides of saidconveyor,

said boring heads each including a central hub,

an angular boring arm extending radially therefrom and laterallyoutwardly and forwardly with respect to said hub at an acute angle withrespect to the front face of said cutter frame,

and at least one cutter bit carrying cutter support extending from saidboring arm in parallel relation with respect to the axis of rotation ofsaid hub,

said boring arms positioning said cutter bits to at least extendpartially over a central hub of a next adjacent boring head to cut inoverlapping cutting paths and moving into generally nested relation withrespect to each other during each cycle of rotation thereof.

4. In a continuous mining machine,

a main frame,

a cutter frame structure mounted on said main frame and extending inadvance'thereof,

a conveyor extending along said main frame from a position adjacent theground in advance of the forward end of said main frame,

a plurality of laterally spaced boring heads rotatably mounted on saidcutter frame on each side of said conveyor for rotation about parallellongitudinally extending axes, in directions to progress the minedmaterial toward the center of the machine in front of said conveyor,

each rotary boring head including a hub rotatably journalled in andprojecting forwardly of a front face of said cutter frame,

a boring arm extending radially of said hub and inclined laterallyoutward of said hub in a forward direction at an acute angle withrespect to said front a face and having at least one cutter bit carryingcutter support extending axially forwardly of said boring arm parallelto the axis of rotation thereof,

said boring arms all extending in parallel relation with respect to eachother and said boring arms positioning said cutter bits to extend overat least a portion of a next adjacent boring head, at least once eachcycle of rotation of said boring heads and to move into generally nestedrelation with respect to each other.

5. A continuous mining machine in accordance with claim 4,

wherein the rotary boring arms include telescopic arms telescopicallyextensible with respect thereto and having cutter bit carrying cuttersupports extending from the ends thereof, and adjustable to vary thecutting height of the machine.

6. In a continuous mining machine,

a main frame,

a cutter frame structure mounted on said main frame and extending inadvance thereof and having a front face extending across the forward endof said main frame,

a conveyor extending along said main frame from a position adjacent theground in advance of the forward end of said main frame,

two widely spaced rotary boring heads mounted on said cutter framestructure on opposite sides of said conveyor and rot'atably driven torotate toward each other and progress the cuttings toward the conveyor,

each rotary boring head including a central hub rotatably journalled insaid cutter frame structure for rotation about an axis extendinglongitudinally of the machine,

and at least one telescopic boring arm extending radially of said huband inclined laterally outwardly with respect to said hub at an acuteangle with respect to the front face of said cutter frame structure andincluding a telescopic arm having a cutter bit carrying cutter supportextending forwardly therefrom parallel to the axis of rotation of saidhub,

and a third rotary boring head rotatably journalled in said cutter framestructure between said two rotary boring heads and in alignmenttherewith and including a central hub having an angular rotary boringarm extending radially therefrom at an acute angle with respect to thefront face of said cutter frame structure with at least one cutter bitcarrying support extending axially therefrom,

said third rotary boring head rotating about an axis in generalalignment with the center of said conveyor and cutting in intersectingrelation With respect to said two rotary boring heads in the samegeneral vertical plane as said two rotary boring heads, and saidtelescopic arms being positionable to position the cutter supportscarried thereby to move into nested relation with respect to saidintermediate boring head, in at least one position of rotation thereof.

7. In a continuous mining machine,

a main frame,

a cutter frame structure mounted on said main frame and extending inadvance thereof,

a conveyor extending along said main frame beneath said cutter framestructure from a position adjacent the ground in advance of the forwardend of said main frame,

two widely spaced outer rotary boring heads mounted on said cutter framestructure on opposite sides of said conveyor for rotation about parallelaligned horizontal axes,

each including a hub having a pair of telescopic boring arms extendingdiametrically therefrom and inclined laterally and forwardly withrespect to said hub at acute angles with respect to the extended axis ofrotation of said hub,

cutter supports extending axially forwardly of said boring arms andhaving forwardly projecting cutter bits carried thereby,

an intermediate boring head disposed between said two boring heads forrotation about an axis parallel to the axes of rotation thereof ingeneral horizontal alignment therewith and in general alignment with thelongitudinal center of said conveyor,

said intermediate boring head rotating in timed relation with said outerboring heads at twice the speeds of rotation thereof and including a hubhaving a boring arm extending radially therefrom inclined at an acuteangle with respect to the extended axis of rotation of said hub and atthe same angle of inclination as the angles of inclination of saiddiametral boring arms, and having a cutter support extending forwardlytherefrom having cutter bits carried thereby and cutting in intersectingrelation with respect to the cutter bits of said .widely spaced outerboring heads and along the same general vertical plane as the cutterbits of said widely spaced outer boring heads, and said telescopic armsbeing positionable to position the cutter supports carried thereby tooverlap at least a portion of said intermediate boring head in at leastone position of rotation thereof.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,802,654 8/1957 Gonski 299572,825,544 3/1958 Ahlson 299 59 X 2,841,377 7/1958 Hagenbook 29959 X3,231,310 1/1966 Santucci 299 X FOREIGN PATENTS 123,111 1959 U.S.S.R.

ERNEST R. PURSER, Primary Examiner.

1. IN A CONTINUOUS MINING MACHINE, A MAIN FRAME, A CUTTER FRAMESTRUCTURE MOUNTED ON SAID MAIN FRAME AND EXTENDING IN ADVANCE THEREOF,THE IMPROVEMENT COMPRISING: A PLURALITY OF LATERALLY SPACED ROTARYBORING HEADS MOUNTED ON SAID CUTTER FRAME STRUCTURE AND EXTENDING INADVANCE THEREOF TO MINE IN INTERSECTING RELATION WITH RESPECT TO EACHOTHER IN THE SAME VERTICAL PLANES AND HAVING CENTRAL HUBS AND ANGULARLYEXTENDING BORING ARMS EXTENDING ANGULARLY FORWARDLY AND LATERALLY OFSAID HUBS AT ACUTE ANGLES WITH RESPECT TO THE EXTENDED AXES OR ROTATIONTHEREOF AND HAVING CUTTER BIT CARRYING SUPPORTS EXTENDING AXIALLYFORWARDLY THEREFROM, SAID BORING ARMS POSITIONING SAID CUTTER SUPPORTSTO EXTEND PARTIALLY OVER A PORTION OF A NEXT ADJACENT BORING ARM, IN ONEPOSITION OF ROTATION OF SAID BORING ARMS.